This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Scarborough Bluffs: $6.5 million erosion prevention project offers hope to those living on the edge

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority says this condemned cottage is half on the land, half suspended over the edge of the Scarborough Bluffs. A shoreline protection project has stalled the bluff's erosion, but they're still waiting for the building to fall. (Jeff Green / Toronto Star)

Susan Scinocca is elated about the city's shoreline protection project, which aims to curb erosion of her property that backs onto the Scarborough Bluffs. (JEFF GREEN / TORONTO STAR)

“Five years ago . . . we had a problem, and now we’ve got a solution. And it’s a brilliant solution,” Scinocca said.

She, like 10 other residents along Meadowcliffe Dr., was losing roughly 30 centimetres of her backyard every year.

Article Continued Below

A towering willow on the edge of the bluffs — which at their highest tower 17 storeys over Lake Ontario — was cut down amid fears a large gust would literally rip out the tree, its roots, and part of Scinocca’s backyard, and carry them down the bluff’s edge.

Two doors down, a condemned cottage rests on the cliff’s edge. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) says roughly half the cottage is hanging over a cavernous horseshoe.

They’re waiting for it to fall.

Five years ago, the wreckage would have hit the water. Today, the blue cabin would hit a beach. With enough steam, it might roll as far as the tracks of one of several construction rigs on site that are carefully arranging rock embankments to protect the shore.

The work is part of a $6.5-million city-funded project to prevent further erosion of the Scarborough Bluffs properties.

Scinocca recognizes that, at first glance, it seems an excessive cost to protect 600 metres of the bluffs, but the homes that line Meadowcliffe Dr. gave up something precious for it: their private waterfront.

For $6.5 million, the city saved a bluff and bought a beach.

“Yes, it’s saving our homes, but it’s also saving the bluffs, which is absolutely a magnificent hidden part of our city,” Scinocca said.

“It will allow people to walk along there at some point, and allow people to enjoy this treasure, because up until now only I have been able to enjoy this piece of paradise.

“And now everyone can.”

But fulfillment of that dream may be a few years away. According to the Scarborough Waterfront Access Plan (SWAP) tabled at an April TRCA executive committee meeting, the Meadowcliffe Dr. beach would be part of an eight-kilometre stretch of publicly accessible waterfront from Bluffer’s Park to East Point Park.

A two-year environmental assessment (at an estimated $3 million) would need to be completed before SWAP, a 15-year, $70 million dream project, could get the green light.

“Right now, the public is using it informally,” said Laura Stephenson, manager of the TRCA’s project management office.

And for now, the bluffs are stable. With the beach below, the erosion caused by waves crashing at their base has been stalled.

There’s limited access through the Doris McCarthy Trail, which is currently closed to the public because of the active construction site below.

In the meantime, the TRCA is planning on planting vegetation to stabilize the bluffs. In time, gentle slopes will replace Scarborough’s bluffs.

“We’re looking at it from a perspective of trying to find that balance between preserving some of the natural features, the naturally eroding bluff features, and making sure our shoreline design mimics a beach,” Stephenson said.

Whether they’re bluffs or slopes, Scinocca doesn’t care.

“I wake up every morning and thank my lucky stars that I have this piece of land under my feet,” she said.

In time, so will the rest of Toronto.

Delivered dailyThe Morning Headlines Newsletter

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com